On Sat, Mar 15, 2008 at 10:11 AM, Anne Wilson
<cannewilson at googlemail.com> wrote:> system-config-users is giving me a problem. I need to create a user
> called 'groupware', without a home directory, and belonging only
to a
> non-privileged group. I can create the user, but it sets it to belong to
the
> group 'users'. When I try to set its default to 'nobody'
and delete
> the 'users' entry it tells me that I must enter a home directory.
>
> How can I get around this?
Mostly, you don't. Every user has to have a home directory, though
nothing says it has to be in /home
Take a look at how the system accounts for things like rpm or rpc or
others are handled. I'd also recommend using useradd as it gives you a
bit more flexibility when creating users. with useradd you can use -g
and -G to see the primary and secondary group memberships as you need.
Also, unless this account will be logging in or for some other reason
requires a shell, make sure that the shell for the user is set to
/sbin/nologin.
--
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell